Northern Kane County Wild Ones to offer garden tour July 22
On Saturday, July 22, members of the Northern Kane County Wild Ones will be offered a garden tour at Noel and April M. Williams home in Algonquin. Meet at 10 a.m. at their home at 1250 Windy Knoll Drive in Algonquin.
When the Williams purchased their half-acre corner lot in Algonquin, it came with lots of lawn with a few trees and shrubs.
The yard sits on a hill with a range of water, sun and soil conditions. Now forbs, ferns, sedges and prairie grasses replace patches of lawn.
The transformation began with a few seedlings from Barb Wilson's shady garden. Jim Cudney invited the Williams to a couple of yard tours and they were inspired to bring the beauty they saw into their property. In 2015, April joined the Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee's mentoring program. June Keibler and Suzanne Kushner helped design a prairie garden for the sunny, dry front of the house. Each year, the Williams add more native plants, replacing grass.
The Williams are beekeepers with an apiary in their yard. Their honeybees enjoy a short trip from their hives to collect nectar and pollen. Across the street, view the restored prairie which is part of the Village of Algonquin's native corridor project inspired by Doug Tallamy's vision.
Neighbors in the adjacent yard were inspired by the Williams native gardens and joined the WPPC mentoring program in 2017. Check out their garden and see the "before" picture with 100-plus plants during their first year.
After visiting the Williams' home, they will visit the Dixie Briggs Fromm Nature Preserve in Algonquin at 1375 Spring Hill Drive. This 150-acre site was purchased in 1997 from the heirs of Dixie Briggs Fromm. Dixie Fromm lived in a country home and kept a small farm. Rare and lovely native prairie remnants were discovered on the western portion after the initial purchase. The Dixie Briggs Fromm Nature Preserve's 66 acres were dedicated in 2003. On the nature preserve site, you will find fens, sedge meadows and dry prairies. This rare ecosystem is populated by an Illinois state endangered hills thistle in addition to many native flowers and grasses.
To learn more about Northern Kane County Wild Ones, visit www.facebook.com/NKWildOnes/ or northernkanecounty.wildones.org.
For more on the Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee, visit www.thewppc.org or www.facebook.com/wppcnativegarden/.